OROVILLE >> Testimony concluded Thursday in the trial of an Oroville developer charged with 24 counts of child sex abuse.

Continuing where matters were left Monday, defendant Christopher Stephen Carter, 46, denied any inappropriate conduct with a young woman until they became close in April and May 2011 when the woman was 17.

The defendant said in Butte County Superior Court that many of the woman's allegations never happened.

Carter is charged with 24 counts of child sex abuse for conduct that allegedly took place from when the woman was 6 years old in 1999 until June 2011. Counts include continuous sexual abuse of the girl until she turned 14 in 2007, as well as sexual penetration with a foreign object, oral copulation, forcible rape and unlawful sexual intercourse.

The defendant is also charged with a count of poisoning involving an older female.

Strong denials

Under questioning by defense attorney Jesse Santana, Carter denied allegations made by the younger woman when she testified last week. The woman, now in her 20s, said Carter initially touched her genitals over her underwear at age 6 and the conduct escalated to intercourse during her freshman year in high school.

Carter said those events never happened. The defendant also denied providing the woman with pills or placing them in her food when she was 14. Carter said he didn't tell her that conduct was going to happen with or without the pills.

Carter also denied using inducements coax the woman to participate, such as withholding services or threatening to kill himself.

Regarding the alleged suicide attempt, the defendant said he wouldn't have physically been able to engage in the alleged behavior if he had taken prescription pills as the woman claimed.

Carter also denied allegations he attempted to poison the older female's soda or food. He said the food was often prepared for a larger group.

He said he became close with the younger woman in April or May 2011. Carter was unaware of surveillance cameras installed in the woman's bedroom and a kitchen area. The bedroom camera reportedly captured sexual conduct between the two shortly before Carter's arrest in June 2011.

The woman testified she never voluntarily had sex with Carter. The defendant said she neither told him that nor kicked or screamed.

Cross-examination

Dupre-Tokos' questions on cross examination focused on details of Carter's interview with police and details about where some of the alleged acts took place.

She didn't directly question Carter on the specific alleged acts, but had Carter admit he had access to the woman from 1999 to 2011.

To rebut Carter's testimony, the prosecutor called one of the woman's childhood friends to the stand.

The friend said some of Carter's actions toward the younger woman from age 6 to 15 made her feel uncomfortable. Actions included Carter kissing the woman on the lips and touching the then-girl's buttocks.

The defense put Carter back on the stand and he denied the witness' observations.